While it's sad about Buster, some times you have to do what you have to do.
I'm sorry you had to be put in that position.

ET was definitely aggressive towards Dreyfuss, attacking him from behind
with a mighty swipe of claws. The first time he got Dreyfuss it was from the
front, but Dreyfuss was walking past him, and he probably felt threatened.
We're so used to other animals ignoring or loving Dreyfuss that it didn't
occur to us to be wary. He's also been aggressive towards the other cats,
though today, he just lounged on the deck near the screened porch. I have
hopes.

We got ET into the house the evening of April 29th, and had him neutered,
etc. on April 30th.

Most likely, as hormone levels subside and with longer familiarity, I bet
ET will eventually fit in.. Dreyfuss may never completely trust him, but
will learn to live with it without being terrified. In fact ET's
aggressiveness, may include, to his mind playfulness and he can't see why
Dreyfuss doesn't "play" along. As time goes on, he'll learn to tone it
down.

Buster's situation was similar, not actually the same. He had been around
here for several months. I don't recall if I had had the chance to nueter
him, but I don't think I did. He was an adult cat - I'd guess 3 or 4 yrs
old, judging by the hefty amount of scar tissue around his jaw line. If
he were just attacking the cats, I would work on it, but he attacked me.
I was scared of him. You couldn't tell from one minute to the next what he
would do. The vet alluded to disease that affects the brain and behavior
this way, though I don't recall specifics. His advice was to put him down
since there were just too many problems including the fact that I'm
single, away from home all day, unable to monitor things and the fact that
I do not have unlimited funds to follow this through. Combine that with
the possible endangerment of my cats and other neighbor cats, I had to
agree. It was a shame because at times he was quite sweet. I don't take
putting an animal down lightly, or use it as a matter of convenience, but
sometimes, there just are no viable alternatives.

One other thing, you wrote

We've had E.T. for more than a month

I thought you'd been writing about him here for much longer than that -
haven't you?

Daryl,
A lot of us might read the word, Psychic, with a bit of scepticism, but
when we have problems with our furry families, we sometimes have to look
to more unconventional sources because the little ones can't always
explain thier issues.
Your results were surprising, especially in light of the fact that you
only provided photos.
I had a stray cat that presented similar behavior years ago; called him
Buster, as I frequently had to say "Watch it, Buster", because he'd go
after one of my other cats with no provocation. By himself he was a

sweetheart. It got really scary one day when I had to save Orangecat
from

him. Buster, a full-grown 14 pounder, actually climbed me to get at OC.
I presented the situation to the vet and he felt it was advisable to put
Buster down because of the danger he posed to other animals.

I'm not suggesting you put ET down, just relating a similar experience.
I

hope you can solve his dilemma. He is neutered isn't he?
Kitty
neIN, Zone 5

We've had E.T. for more than a month, and things haven't been going
very

well.

When he gets into the house, he goes straight for Diesel, and he tries
to

get
at both cats through the screens when they're out on the porch.
So - I brought pictures of all the boys to an animal psychic yesterday.
It was
interesting. The psychic knew that Dreyfuss (the dog) had trouble
walking,
wasn't in pain, but didn't know why he couldn't walk well, and that he
tired
easily from it. Dreyfuss has bad nerves in his spine (presumably
Daschund-spine related, even though he's not a purebred. ) The vet says
that
he's not in pain, but he has trouble coordinating his feet, and often
sways
and goes down now.
The animal psychic said that E.T. was only bullying because he was
frightened
- that acting first was how he survived being on his own for so long.
(And he

is truly a battle-scarred veteran, though the pictures didn't show
that).

He

made some suggestions about giving ET a job (garden watchdog) and
giving

him
more time to adapt. He also said that ET was embarrassed and confused
that he
had no hair (though it didn't really show in the photos that he'd been
shaved.
)
He told me that Diesel was not ill, but was stressed and needed extra
attention. That confirmed what the vet had told me last week. He also
gave
suggestions about what Diesel said would make him more comfortable.
We'll see.
It was an interesting experience.
d
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT